After the Fall
by Insane Romantic
Summary: When Sakura dies, the last thing she expects to do is to wake up again... eight years in the past.
1. The Death of a Hero

_**Right, this is part of the rewrite! You'll notice the beginning is most of the same thing as the previous version, but I changed the last half around... a lot. Here's what I wrote last time to explain this chapter, and I think the note still applies:  
**_

Okay, before I start, a lot of you might notice that Sakura in this chapter is really cold. I'm not trying to make her all angsty or anything, but trying to show that she's matured as a woman and a ninja. She's faced death before and also has been forced to cause it, and while she's still kind and open-hearted and still Sakura on the inside, she's no longer idealistic and unrealistic about the world and how it works—i.e., when she comes across the nearly dead medic-nin, Sakura doesn't try to heal her because she knows it's impossible, and she also has no mercy on the rogue-nin that was attacking a child. So, to reiterate, Sakura's much more mature now and more realistic, though she's still kind at heart, of course.

_**Also, I know I said in the author's note in The Beginning Again that I wouldn't be changing the plot around... I've actually changed my mind. I have some new ideas for the Bell Test and other events that I feel would be more in-character and less Mary Sue-ish for Sakura. So this story may bear some superficial resemblance to The Beginning Again, but it's turning out to be much different. Like, the first half of this chapter is basically the same as it was before, but I've changed the second half a great deal and the story's only going to get more different from there. I'm keeping up TBA for now, until I reach the same point in this story, at which point I'm deleting the old story... unless of course everyone starts reviewing protesting that. But yeah, that's mostly my plans for this story and also TBA.  
**_

* * *

_Chapter One_

Konoha was falling.

Sakura quickly dodged the falling debris around her as she frantically made her way to the Hokage tower, channeling extra chakra to her legs to speed herself up and draining her already strained chakra supply. She ignored the suffering around her, the screaming of the civilians and bawling of the children. Eight years as a kunoichi of Konoha had taught her that not every innocent civilian could be saved. Her first priority, she knew, was to protect the Elders, her Hokage, and Naruto.

The Akatsuki had planned their invasion well, thought Sakura bleakly. Slowly, strategically, the ruthless group had cut off all of Konoha's links to the outside world, so carefully that by the time the Hidden Leaf village had noticed the subversive attack it was far too late to do anything about it. Then they had systematically reduced and taken out the chunnin and gennin of Konoha, effectively rendering the bulk of Konoha's ninja useless. Now all that remained were the village's elite nin, the few jounin who could do little against the inhumanly skilled Akatsuki and the raw brute force the Akatsuki had recruited.

That perfectly constructed, crippling plan had required an intimate knowledge of the interior workings of the village—the sort of knowledge that only a fellow ninja would have. But she couldn't understand what sort of ninja would launch such a ruthlessly crushing invasion of Konoha. What sort of ninja would hold so much hatred for a village that had nurtured them and protected them?

Sakura had heard the whisperings, of course. She knew that the Council and Tsunade suspected Sasuke to be behind these attacks—but Sakura refused to believe that. Sasuke had turned his back on them, of course, broken his bonds or at least attempted to, but he had never hated Konoha itself. He had no _reason _to hate it, after all. His only goal had been to kill Itachi.

She deftly dodged a massive block of concrete as it dislodged itself from a building and began its inevitable journey downwards. Somehow, somewhere, the Akatsuki had managed an alliance with countless bloodthirsty rogue and missing-nin, mostly used as cannon fodder, and they delighted in the complete and utter destruction of Konoha and everything in it. It twisted her heart to see her home in such shambles, to see such coldblooded viciousness around her. _Even though such was the way of the ninja..._

Hardly even slowing her stride, she brandished her katana and drove it through an oblivious rogue nin's eye with her inhuman strength. She had long become immune to the sickening sound of the cartilage and bone snapping and shattering, the sick mushiness once the katana reached and pierced through the brain, and the spattering of the vitreous humor of the eye. He slumped backwards, an expression of surprise forever etched onto his half-ruined face, and Sakura continued on, sheathing her katana, not bothering to clean it, and hardly noticing the horrified look of the child that the rogue nin had been harassing.

She passed by one of her fellow ninja, Aiko, a brown-haired, blue-eyed young chunnin she recognized as a medic in training from the hospital, already cataloguing her physical condition as good as dead. There would be no point in attempting to heal her; a horrid gash had wrecked her stomach and Sakura saw the girl's intestines spilling out. Sakura knew the medic-in-training was at such an advanced point that she would not live longer than two minutes of unbearable agony and considered praying for the girl as she continued to the center of Konoha—but decided Kami-sama must have long abandoned Konoha to allow such indiscriminate destruction to go on.

She drew in a sharp breath as she neared her final destination. There—she recognized Ichiraku's, the place where she and Naruto and, once, Sasuke, had had so many good times. It was little more the a burning wreck now and, biting her lip, Sakura continued on. Her eyes were dry, and she felt an almost twisted sense of pleasure at that fact. She had sworn never to cry—never after that night by the bench when Sasuke had abandoned her.

But what she saw right after shocked her even more than anything else in her life.

"S-sasu… Sasuke-kun…?" she heard herself whisper dully.

The scene in front of her was supposed to be impossible—it _was_ impossible, and she had no idea how he had managed to accomplish it.

Naruto lay, unconscious, with cuts littering his body. With just a glance, Sakura could already tell by his labored breathing and slightly bent right arm that he had at least two broken or fractured ribs and that his arm was broken. She also noticed the fox-like markings on his face and the ugly red chakra still pulsating around him, and concluded that he had called upon the Kyuubi.

Not too far from him was a woman on her knees who looked vaguely familiar, an old, exhausted woman, with blond hair and brown eyes, and Sakura recognized her as Tsunade—though this woman was clearly older than fifty, and Sakura had never seen her shishou looking a day over thirty. And what was even more shocking—Sasuke was holding his katana, Kusanagi, to Tsunade's throat, surrounded by three unfamiliar people. He looked worse for the wear, of course, but still relatively unhurt.

Sakura took no notice of that. For a second, he stopped being Sasuke-kun, her crush and her love and one of her most precious people. Now, he was the man who was to blame for Naruto's pain, the man who dared put a blade to the throat of her teacher. Unthinkingly, uncharacteristically of her, she gathered chakra to her fist, preparing to fight him, and determined not to be robbed of her chance as she had been that one time long ago. There was no Yamato-sensei to save her now, and she let Inner Sakura take over.

"_Sasuke!" _she cried out, full-throated, full of fury, and rushed as quickly as she could at him. She saw Naruto begin to stir desperately, called out of his slumber by an animalistic instinct that screamed _WRONG!!!_ to him, and saw Tsunade's eyes widen as the Hokage tried desperately to warn Sakura to run as far as she could, that this was not the same Sasuke she had once fallen in love with. At that point, however, Sakura was beyond caring; she wanted revenge, and by Kami, she would get it.

He stared impassively at her, his Sharingan activated, but he did not bother to remove his katana from Tsunade's neck and towards her, and it infuriated her even more that he considered her so little a threat. She wanted to make him _hurt_, make him agonize and scream for all those eight years of pain and crushed hopes and abandonment. But even in her infuriated state, Sakura realized she was no match for the sole remaining Uchiha. At the last moment she directed her chakra to her feet, and stomped decisively on the ground. It exploded as she knew it would, and in the distraction she rushed as quickly as she could towards Naruto and slung him over her shoulder. With Sasuke's unbelievable strength she knew there was no way to get both Tsunade and Naruto out of Sasuke's reach in one go.

"Karin, take care of Tsunade," he barked. Sakura was perversely satisfied and not at all disappointed when she saw Sasuke appear in front of her, seemingly out of thin air.

Quickly, she swerved to the right, and when he appeared in front of her once again, she aimed a chakra-enhanced kick at him. If he dodged, then she would follow up with a punching and kicking combo Lee had taught her; if he attempted to block her kick he would receive an unpleasant surprise: a shattered arm. His eyes narrowed suspiciously at her glowing leg and he dodged, so she followed with a punch and a kick that would have broken his neck had she reached him. But he disappeared again and Sakura cursed his superior speed before quickly activating the transportation jutsu she had been planning while fighting him.

She came to somewhere on the border of Konoha; she was not sure where. Her first order of business was to hide Naruto's unconscious body somewhere safe until she could return to him and heal him, but her normally sharp mind blanked out. Sasuke was a genius, and she would need some sort of brilliant epiphany _and _for him to be unthinkably careless before she could even think about fooling him.

By then she was frantically running on chakra-propelled legs, attempting to put as much distance as possible between herself and where she assumed Sasuke to be. Naruto had taught her his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and though Sakura could produce a passable shadow clone, the jutsu drained near half her chakra, resulted in only a physical copy with no sentience, and in any other circumstance would be an absolutely ridiculous idea.

But not in this circumstance. Bracing herself, Sakura put Naruto down and began the hand signs that would complete her jutsu, pouring her mind and chakra into it. Next to Naruto's unconscious body, another poofed into existence and Sakura nearly lost consciousness herself at the strain. Gritting her teeth, however, she ignored the faintly nauseous feeling and gray lightheadedness that were telltale signs of chakra exhaustion and slung the fake Naruto over her shoulder. Nearly crying with frustration and exhaustion, she forced herself through the hand signs of yet another genjutsu and disguised Naruto as a particularly unruly clump of bushes. She knew it wouldn't stand a chance against Sasuke's advanced Sharingan, but didn't plan to be around long enough to let Sasuke find out about it. Sakura just hoped that an overzealous rogue nin, none of whom were skilled enough to see through the genjutsu, wouldn't try to set fire to the bushes or something equally boneheaded, but there wasn't enough time to worry about that.

So. Now she had a decoy that was hopefully skilled enough to fool Sasuke, at least enough into chasing her. Allowing herself a moment, Sakura took a deep breath to calm her exhaustion, wiped her forehead of the sweat that had accumulated there, and thought back on the irony that for once, she was attempting to run away from him rather than follow him.

Bracing herself once again, Sakura forced herself through another transportation jutsu and found herself near the long abandoned Uchiha compound and, for a split second, once more considered the irony. Though it was derelict due to long years of desertion, it was the only part of Konoha that had been relatively untouched by the rogue nin currently invading Konoha.

_What do you think you're doing here?_

Sakura started at the voice. Her alter ego, Inner Sakura, rarely showed up these days to the point where Sakura almost forgot she was even there.

_Simple_, she answered back._ It isn't likely there'll be any nin here, so I won't be forced to fight any. You know I can't in this condition. And I'm familiar with the area anyways._

It was true. On days when she felt particularly nostalgic, she had taken to walking through the maze that was the Uchiha compound. Only the long dead and gone Uchihas were more familiar with the compound than she was these days.

She shifted so that the Naruto clone was straddling her back rather than slung over her shoulder and concentrated what little chakra she had remaining to her legs. She wasn't nearly stupid enough to think that she would be able to escape Sasuke, and quite frankly was surprised she had been able to evade him for so long.

He appeared in front of her and aimed a kick that was so inhumanly fast that she barely dodged. It glanced off the side of her stomach, near where Sasori had impaled her, and she went flying towards the wall. Jackknifing frantically, she used her momentum to her advantage and sprang off the wall.

"Sasuke-kun! Why are you doing this?" she called out desperately, if even just to buy more time.

His flinty obsidian eyes stared unflinchingly and impassively at her, but he didn't answer.

"P-please… Sasuke-kun…! Stop it! I—I don't know what happened, but you don't have to—!" She quickly dodged his series of blows, but they still grazed her and left several bruises.

"Sakura… don't be annoying."

For the first time Sakura felt tears prick her eyes. It was ridiculous how one word could undo all of her years of work, those years she had sweated and hurt to improve and to do something other than watch the backs of her teammates.

"I—am—not—_annoying!"_ she exploded suddenly. Using the last remnant of her chakra and a good deal of her monstrous strength, she punched the wall behind her. As rubble flew all around her, she jerked out of the hallway and into the once-impressive Uchiha courtyard.

Sasuke appeared directly in front of her. "Did you think I'd be fooled by the same trick twice, Sa-ku-ra?"

Sakura, staring innocently at him, asked guilelessly, "What trick?"

And then she disappeared.

It took Sasuke a moment to put together what had happened—yet another transportation jutsu. Honestly, it was ridiculous how often she was using that simple jutsu… and how often it was effective. Spreading out his senses, he felt the sudden spike of soft-green chakra at the end of one of the Uchiha hallways. Beginning the signs for the transportation jutsu himself, he followed where he felt her chakra ruthlessly. Cornering her at the dead end, his eyes narrowed. She was standing there defiantly, her green eyes blazing, Naruto still on her back with no exit in sight. Her idiotically noble defiance made him angry for some reason, angry that she just _wouldn't stand down_ so he wouldn't have to hurt her_._ But such thoughts were foolish. Hurting others was simply the way of the ninja.

"Give me Naruto," he demanded in a monotone voice.

"Like hell!" retorted Sakura defiantly. "Get away from me, you—you imposter!!"

He had to admit that he was impressed in an annoyed sort of way. But Naruto was _so close_ and at the moment she was the last barrier to him, so he didn't dwell long on the feeling. "Tch. How annoying," he said instead—and unsheathed Kusanagi.

_About time_, Sakura thought to herself. Even if that meant her death. Even if that meant she'd lose. Because at least Sasuke finally deemed her enough of a threat to _fight_ her, to truly battle her. Pathetic, really, her inferiority complex, her need for Sasuke's approval despite all he'd done.

Sakura quickly considered her options. Both her hands were tied. She could sling fake-Naruto over her shoulder, freeing one arm at least, but she simply didn't have the pure physical endurance for that. Her muscles were shaking with exhaustion. She could dispel fake-Naruto as well, but then Sasuke would lose his incentive to follow after her, and real-Naruto needed as much time as she could get to recover, to overcome his own exhaustion. And just placing fake-Naruto on the ground wouldn't work either; Sasuke would take his chance to grab Naruto, would realize he was fake immediately, and then all her efforts would have been for naught.

So that left fighting with only her legs, since her arms were busy holding up Naruto. The reach of her legs was shorter than the reach of Sasuke's arm with his katana combined, putting her at a disadvantage. Her own katana was still tucked into her belt, and she couldn't get it out—and even if she could, she couldn't use it, considering her arms were tied.

All rules of battle dictated that she should wait for her opponent to approach her, so that she could disarm him and then give a crippling blow while he was disoriented. Battles in general lasted only about three or four strikes in total, unless the two ninja fighting were so completely matched in strength that their abilities were equal—which rarely happened. And Sakura had no delusions about her strength compared to Sasuke's plain genius.

But if she waited for him to approach her, there was no guarantee she would dodge. In fact, there was a high chance that she would die, with her clear handicaps and slower reflexes and exhaustion. Throwing all that she had learned in the last twelve years as a ninja and at the Academy to the winds, she rushed recklessly at him. Perhaps she was simply making it easier for him to kill her, but she had no chakra left for another transportation jutsu and she saw no other option.

Sasuke rushed at her too, far faster than she. Sakura calculated his speed and his approximate position within the next three seconds, as Lee had taught her, and based on that, turned her back to him, pivoting on her left foot to bring her right leg up to hit Sasuke across the chest, hopefully knocking him down and breaking several ribs in the process. Her right leg glowed green as she directed the very last vestiges of her chakra to her feet—and suddenly she screamed as she felt something cold, something so freezing that it burned, pierce through fake-Naruto and then her back and out of her stomach. Her chakra diverted from her leg to her stomach, in a useless, reflexive attempt to heal the wound, but she simply didn't have enough to even induce clotting. _Another scar to add to the one Sasori gave me_, she thought abstractly, floating in the haze of pain.

Fake-Naruto, stabbed with Kusanagi as well, disappeared with a puff of smoke. Sakura looked down at her stomach with a sense of detached, clinical interest. She was impaled through on Kusanagi. Blood was dripping out of her wound, down her legs, staining her jounin-issue green vest and pants the rusty red of blood on cloth. She felt a burning pain where the katana stabbed through her, but a strange numbness in her legs, meaning Sasuke must have severed part of her spine, most likely somewhere in between the first lumbar and second lumbar vertebrae (1). Even in the astronomically unlikely event that she got to the hospital in time, she would never walk again, much less become a ninja. The only reason she was still standing was because Kusanagi was still through her.

There was a kind of irony in their position. Sakura, with her back to him, the first of her tears leaking out. Sasuke, standing behind her, close enough that she could feel his breath but not close enough that they touched. Except this time he wasn't leaving Konoha. Except this time instead of knocking her unconscious, he had stabbed her. Except this time she was dying.

"Annoying. You replaced him with a shadow clone. You didn't have enough chakra for that before."

Sakura opened her mouth, tried to talk, tried to tell him that_ no, I didn't, see how I've improved, Sasuke-kun? See how much stronger I've become._ But blood came out instead, and she started choking on it, hating herself for the fact that she still depended so much on the approval of Sasuke. No, not Sasuke. The monster with Sasuke-kun's body was a more accurate description.

The sounds of her hacking filled the dead silence between them.

She whimpered anew as she felt Kusanagi sliding out of her stomach, out of her back, reopening the wound when she had almost become used to the katana's presence. The bleeding started again, spurting out. _I didn't know I had so much blood in me._ Or rather, she did know, but it had never seemed like so much until now, now when she saw it leeching out of her, being stolen and sucked up by the man who had done the same to her heart.

With nothing to hold her up, she swayed and fell forward, anticipating the impact of the hard floor, unable to do anything to stop her descent. So she would die with a broken nose as well as a severed spine. What an indignity. Was the bitter taste in her mouth the taste of blood or the taste of complete, utter failure? Or both? But suddenly Sasuke flashed in front of her, catching her by the shoulders and just under her chest, right above where Kusanagi had stabbed through her. He lay her on the ground almost gently, placing her so that she lay on her side instead of on her stomach. _He kissed her and killed her with the same breath_, she remembered reading once in a book (2). How strange that she should remember that now, and how appropriate.

Sakura watched with unfocused eyes as the red blood of her body stained her pink hair ruby. She was too tired to contemplate what Sasuke's sudden, inadequate kindness meant. _Kiss and kill..._ There was already a horrific burning starting through her body, as her acids leaked out of her ruined stomach and into the rest of her body, dissolving tissues and organs. She knew from her medic training that she would be in terrible agony, as Aiko was, for the next fifteen minutes before succumbing to darkness and then death. Her spine had been severed so low that only her legs were numbed, not the rest of her body.

Sasuke crouched down beside her face, so that with her blurry vision she could make out his knees and a part of his white shirt. "It was a foolish try," he told her. "You died for nothing. I will find Naruto, and he will die as well. Annoying." He got up, and Sakura saw his feet walking off.

Sakura coughed again, spitting out blood, but summoned the last of her willpower to say, "I'm... not... dead... yet." The four words sent her into a fit of coughing again.

The sound of his footsteps paused, and then he answered, "You and Naruto were dead to me eight years ago." And then he left in a whirlwind of black raven feathers, leaving Sakura alone and dying in the Uchiha hallway, her blood staining the walls and the floor red. Like that fateful day when Sasuke had returned home to find Itachi over his dead parents...

When Sakura died, she welcomed the darkness.

* * *

When Sakura woke up, it was with a monstrous headache and a strange phantom-pain in her stomach.

_Why am I still alive_, she thought. Then, _why can I feel my legs?_

The soft bed she was in could never be mistaken for the admittedly lumpy hospital mattresses. She didn't smell the sharp tang of antibiotics in the air either. Perhaps she'd gone into a coma, and the medic-nin of the hospital had somehow devised some miraculous way to regrow her spine? That would mean Sasuke had failed, if she had been taken to the hospital and healed, didn't it? If Sasuke was in power, he would simply have let her die. She was unsure how she felt about that observation.

But if she had been in a coma for so long, her muscles should have greatly atrophied by now. She felt noticeably weaker, but it was as though she simply didn't have the muscle mass she was used to, not as though her muscles had actually degenerated.

Puzzled, she took the time to look around the room she was in to get her bearings. Her eyes fell on the frilly pink comforter... a frilly pink comforter that she had used eight years ago, a frilly pink comforter that she'd long discarded, disdaining it as _too girly_ for a kunoichi...

...the ribbon from Ino on a much-too-familiar bedstand, a ribbon she'd lost two years ago on a mission, to her eternal regret...

...an adorable little pig-alarm clock that had finally broken down six years ago, after a long life of trusty servitude...

...a body-length mirror that she still had, but this one didn't have the crack in it from when an enemy nin had once broken into her house and thrown a kunai which she had dodged, and so which had lodged itself in the mirror...

...a bureau full of delicate little silver necklaces and earrings she had sold off seven years ago, after she realized the impracticality of such breakable jewelry for a kunoichi like her...

And when Sakura finally caught her reflection in the mirror, recognized why she constantly felt hair brushing her back, she fainted.

* * *

(1) The first lumbar and second lumbar vertebrae are located approximately in the middle area of where the spine starts curving inward... so if you split the spine into four equal parts, it'd be about the third part down. Kind of. Just search it up if you're really _that_ curious.

(2) Very loosely paraphrased from a line in _Ender's Shadow._ And when I say loosely, I _mean _loosely. Well, you can't blame dead people for misquoting, can you? ;D

Anyways, tell me what you think! I've done a lot of editing, so I'd like to know if you people like the changes so far. :) I'm trying to make Sakura less of a Mary-Sue than she was in my previous story. And of course reviews do have the marked advantage of inducing me into updating faster... ;D AND. I've made a new resolution to reply to all the reviews I get!! So keep me busy guys, huh? ;D

_If you review you MAY just happen to find a shirtless insert-hot-male-(or female if that's how you roll/if you're a guy)-person-here in your room... but only if you review..._

Also, I'd like to know if you guys are intrigued by this story. Usually it's Naruto who travels back in time, or in some cases Sasuke, but I've only come across about four Sakura-travels-back-in-time stories... and of those, no offense to the others (which I won't name here), I only really liked two of them... and they both only had like two chapters and hadn't been updated in the last... idk, three to five years. But don't worry, I plan on continuing this story and I will end it eventually! That may be a long time from now, because I'm a slow writer and I'm trying the increase the length of my chapters, buuuuut I will end it. So you should keep me motivated -coughcough- -hinthint-! XD

Also, if anyone's wondering when this story is taking place... it was originally written wayyy before Sasuke actually invaded-ish Konoha in the manga, back when he was still together with his second team. I'm kind of vague about which chapters those are... but meh. Just ignore the more recent canon events, I guess.

As to how long Sakura's been transported back in time, it's about eight to nine years. I'm kind of vague on that too. xD


	2. A Road I've Been Down Before

Right, Chapter Two! Quick update this time, since the plot bunny got stuck in my head. :)

* * *

_Chapter Two_

"Sakura! Wake up!"

Sakura's eyes opened groggily. She'd had the strangest dream, that she'd somehow traveled eight years into the past...

Sakura looked at her room again and realized that it hadn't been a dream at all. "M-mom?" she whispered, and closed her eyes as memories assaulted her. Her mother, collapsing suddenly while cooking dinner one night, unable to breathe. Her mother, a wasted wreck of herself, lying there in the hospital bed... Some diseases even chakra couldn't heal. This couldn't be happening. This _couldn't_ be happening.

"_Sakura!_ You're going to be late to your first day as a gennin?"

_First day… as a gennin…_

Ha. She hadn't been a gennin for the last six years, hadn't even been a chunnin for the last three.

There was only one explanation for this ridiculousness. She was trapped in some sort of genjutsu. This _wasn't_ happening, because it was impossible.

She'd never heard of a genjutsu like this. There _was_ one genjutsu that could conceivably produce similar results: it created a pocket of space-time that the user could manipulate at will, rather like Mangekyou Sharingan, but the hand signs had long been lost to time and now it was only the stuff of legend. And anyways, if some ninja had managed to trap her in such a genjutsu, well, she could think of far more practical applications than forcing her to relive her memories...

And who had she been fighting, anyways, that had cast the genjutsu on her? She didn't remember much after her spine had been severed. Perhaps she'd gotten a concussion when she'd fallen on the floor, resulting in some amnesia... but she remembered how Sasuke had laid her almost gently on the floor. The bastard. She hadn't even bruised him, and she'd almost died by his hand.

Well, that didn't matter yet. What _did_ matter was that she was trapped in this gods-damned genjutsu and who knew what the caster of the genjutsu was doing to her while she was reliving these useless memories, these useless phantoms of the past...

"Sakura!?" called her fake-mother again from downstairs.

"I—I'm g-getting ready!" stammered out Sakura reflexively. For a moment there, she'd almost believed it really was her mother calling her, though she'd been dead for the last five years. It all felt so _real_. But the stronger genjutsus did that. The caster had only to provide guidelines, and her brain would fill in all the gaps.

"Alright then, honey! Don't be too late!!"

There were two ways that she knew of to break a genjutsu. First was a sharp little push of chakra outwards from her body to distort the genjutsu, almost like creating a tear in a paper. Most people used the word "Kai!" to help them focus their chakra, though after years of training Sakura's chakra control was so superb she had no need of that. But that method often didn't work against the stronger genjutsus. The second was to inflict an injury on oneself, almost like pinching oneself in the dream, and the stronger the genjutsu, the larger the magnitude of the injury had to be.

Sakura took quick inventory of her body. She had almost no muscle mass to speak of. Her chakra store was ridiculously low. Well, she'd always known it was, compared to powerhouses like Naruto or Sasuke, but even compared to her usual store... There was no genjutsu that could fake that... But, well, she'd been exhausted by her fight. Probably her chakra hadn't replenished itself yet—she'd always had a slow healing rate, which she'd only overcome with her knowledge of medical jutsu. But she still had enough for a powerful chakra push and several healing jutsu. What was more worrying was her lack of muscle mass.

Sakura closed her eyes, using her senses to look inside herself, to find that core of chakra inside all people. It was usually a tightly controlled sphere, soft comforting green. But now it was more chaotic, almost like the surface of a rippling pond... Sakura concentrated and forced it into a globe of perfect stillness.

Strangely, it took a great deal of effort. Sweat beaded on her brow as the chakra responded slowly, sluggishly, like it had rarely ever been used. But eventually she got it under control.

"Kai!" she whispered forcefully, and her chakra pulsed out of her body.

Sakura opened her eyes and found her world unchanged. It hadn't even rippled or paused like the strongest genjutsu did, trying to overcome the chakra pulse. She bit her lip as she realized exactly how strong the genjutsu must be.

Well, that left only one other way. But the injury had to be proportional to the strength of the jutsu. And some genjutsu were so strong that the only way to escape them was death... and Sakura may have been brave, but she was not brave enough to take her own life. Yet.

Sakura put the worry out of her mind. There was no use getting anxious over something like that, she told herself. Genjutsus that powerful were used to torture and incapacitate ninja, not... not trap them in some stupid memories. Not distract them from the battle like this genjutsu was doing.

Alright. She estimated that if she slit one of her arms, it would be strong enough to break the jutsu. Perhaps the enemy ninja expected her to be weakened after such a large injury, but she still had enough chakra left for one healing jutsu. She'd get a kunai, cut her left hand from the wrist to the elbow, and when she escaped the genjutsu she'd heal herself. Simple enough.

Sakura bit her lip as she tried to remember where she'd kept her kunai when she had been twelve. If everything else was such a perfect replica of her memories, then it stood to reason the kunai would be in the same place as well. Ah! She remembered now. She'd kept them hidden away in a dusty corner in her closet, thinking they were too _manly_, too _violent_ for a perfect ladylike girl like herself, even if she was a kunoichi. Idiotic, really, now that she thought about it. What if an enemy nin had attacked her in her home when she was twelve? What would she have done? She would never have reached the kunai in time, or if she had, then everyone else in the house would have been dead by that time.

But Sakura was a nobody back then. Just as well, she supposed, if being a nobody had kept her alive. She rummaged through the closet, and, finding the box of kunai, pulled it out. She frowned as she realized it was actually... heavy. Due to her monstrous strength, she hadn't felt the sensation of _heavy_ for the last two years, except when she was training. Gods help her, her twelve year old body _was _annoying. She almost _understood _Sasuke for a moment, before reminding herself that, regardless, his behavior to her had been inexcusable.

Sakura frowned as she saw her kunai. They were little dainty ones that were more for show than for actual use, and they were in desperate need of being sharpened. Well, that was no longer her problem. The important thing was that despite that, they were perfectly capable of cutting through skin and bone, though perhaps not as easily as a _properly _sharpened, _properly _practical kunai would. She _had_ been an idiot when she was twelve, hadn't she?

She walked into her attached bathroom with one of the kunai and winced at the pink that surrounded her. Pink tiles, pink bath curtains, pink towels, pink rugs... She was still girly, and couldn't be considered a tomboy compared to some of the other kunoichi that she had known, but still... there was only so much pink one could tolerate, after all. But that didn't matter. What mattered was escaping.

She placed the kunai by the soft skin on the inside of her arms just beneath her elbow. She still used lotion everyday at twelve, didn't she? She had no scars and her arm was pathetically thin. She wasn't a kunoichi, she was a _civilian_ still, though she'd passed the Academy and would go on to pass the bell test. Steeling herself, she sliced upward, biting down on her bottom lip to stifle her squeal of pain. Crimson blood leaked out, staining her frilly light pink nightgown like it had once stained her hair... and nothing about the genjutsu changed.

With shaking hands, Sakura forced her weak, unresponsive chakra into a healing jutsu. And even as the cut stitched itself up, the pain receding and becoming a sharp sting and then slowly disappearing, Sakura stared around the suddenly oppressive bathroom with growing horror.

_I can't escape this..._

_

* * *

_"Why is our sensei _so damn late?"_ burst out Naruto impatiently. "Everyone else's teachers have already left and ours hasn't even shown up yet! And why isn't Sakura-chan here _either_? Iruka-sensei said she was on our team, but we've been waiting for two and a half whole _hours_!!"

"Shut up, dobe," muttered Sasuke. He could care less. A weakling like Sakura had probably gotten scared and dropped out at the last minutes. Figures. Someone like her wasn't cut out for the ninja life, and she'd only have held him back—

The door opened—Sasuke hoped for a moment that _finally_ their jounin-sensei had arrived—but then Sakura walked in. He scoffed and looked away.

"Sakura-chan, you're so late!!" complained Naruto.

"S-sorry," whispered Sakura. "I—I got distracted." She stared with haunted eyes at Naruto, unscarred and unhurt by the years of betrayal and death, and couldn't work up the courage to look at Sasuke.

Naruto bounced over the blackboard, asking as he did so, "How could you get _distracted_, Sakura-chan!? This is our first day as gennin!!" He didn't know why Sakura hadn't called him annoying yet, but he planned on capitalizing every opportunity she gave him. And so far, success!!

Sakura smiled thinly, distractedly, and said vaguely, "You'd think so, wouldn't you?"

Nartuo gave her a strange look and then shrugged, wedging an eraser in between the door and its frame. "Neh, Sakura-chan, aren't you going to ask me what I'm doing?" he hinted.

"Naruto, what are you doing?_"_ sighed Sakura exasperatedly. And then she stilled. She was already accepting the genjutsu for reality, and that was often the last mistake most ninja made. She'd only gone to the Academy after much debate, deciding that she didn't know what else to do. But under no circumstance could she let her guard down. If she couldn't escape, she could at least remain vigilant and wait for an opportunity to break the jutsu.

Sasuke watched Naruto deprecatingly. "Do you honestly think a jounin will fall for such a simple trick?"

And then Kakashi walked in.

All of Team Seven watched dumbly as the eraser began its journey downward, finally landing in his silver hair with an equally white puff of dust.

There was utter silence.

Then Naruto burst out laughing uncontrollably, and Sakura smiled despite herself, despite the fact she knew this was all some ridiculous genjutsu, because some memories would always bring a smile to her face. And she knew from her memory that a sideways glance at Sasuke would reveal a small smile in his eyes that only his closest friends would have noticed... but she couldn't bring herself to look at Sasuke now. Not after what he'd done.

Smiling benignly and appearing unruffled by the prank, Kakashi greeted, "Well, how do I say this? My first impression is… I don't like you three at all."

Sakura sighed.

* * *

"Right. Let's begin with some introductions. Your likes, dislikes, dreams… whatever you want to tell us. Who wants to start?" drawled Kakashi lazily.

There was a pregnant pause.

"Well, Sakura, since you so kindly volunteered yourself—"

"No. I didn't," said Sakura flatly. She had no intention of making friends in this genjutsu, of falling into the trap of this fake-reality.

"Yeah!" seconded Naruto. "And anyways you look suspicious, with that mask and weird white hair—how old are you anyways!?"

The older man sighed long-sufferingly. "Since you insist… My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you about my likes and dislikes. My dreams for the future? … I have several. And I have lots of hobbies… Now it's your turn! Right to left."

Bouncing on his heels excitedly, Naruto began, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, and my favorite is the ramen from Ichiraku's ramen stand! I hate the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook the most. My dream is to surpass the village Hokage and then have all the people of the village acknowledge my existence!"

Sasuke spoke. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I dislike many things but I don't really like anything. And… the word 'dream' isn't the right word… I have an _ambition_… to resurrect my clan and kill a certain man."

Sakura paused for a minute, contemplating, and said, "I am Haruno Sakura. I like... I like... My dream is to be the best person I can be. I dislike people who betray others"—she had an unwilling flashback to that night by the bench—"and my hobbies… well."

Sasuke observed her surreptitiously. What was different about her? She hadn't looked at him once, whereas he clearly recalled with annoyance how she had begged him for dates several times each day. He remembered her vaguely from his classes as naturally gifted at genjutsu but abysmally weak in the other areas of ninjutsu. She seemed almost... hostile to him. Which was strange, he decided, but unimportant. She was insignificant in the large scheme of things, as was Naruto.

"Interesting. Tomorrow," continued Kakashi obliviously, "we are going to start some survival training." He laughed sinisterly.

Naruto demanded, "What's so funny, sensei?"

"Well… it's just that…"

The sadistic old man looked like he was enjoying the expressions of anticipatory nervousness on their faces. Or rather, the ones on Naruto's and Sasuke's faces. He noted with a passing suspicion that Sakura's face looked like it was made of granite.

"Of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine pass. The rest will be sent back to the academy. The exam and training has a failing rate of 66 percent."

Naruto had an expression of mute horror on his face and even Sasuke looked a bit nervous. Sakura wondered if she should school her face into one of shock, but by that time the moment had passed and Kakashi's gaze lingered suspiciously on hers. Dear Kami, Kakashi. She remembered how he died, the feel of his warm blood splattering across her face...

"But—but—what about all that hard work—what was the point of graduating?" cried out Naruto.

"Oh, that?" confirmed Kakashi lightly. "That was just to see who had the _chance_ at becoming gennin. Anyways, tomorrow, meet me at the training field and bring all your shinobi tools—kunai, tags, whatever. Oh, and skip breakfast or else you'll throw up."

Sakura looked away silently as Naruto and Sasuke broke into loud protests.

* * *

The next day, Naruto realized he was _bored._

He had never thought it possible. After all, the time for him to take the test that Kakashi had so sadistically teased them with was looming closer and closer. He even had a vague ache in his stomach, though that was nothing unusual. Day after day of eating nothing but ramen tended to do that sometimes.

Perhaps he should go visit Sakura-chan? He was puzzled by her sudden... kindness towards him. Or not kindness, but more tolerance. He wasn't an oblivious fool, no matter what people seemed to think. He knew that Sakura-chan had considered him gross, annoying. But now… Sakura-chan was actually… being _nice_ to him. And _not_ asking Sasuke out on a date every five minutes.

It was a strange sensation, but he liked it. Every time Sakura-chan gave him a small smile instead of calling him annoying, he had a warm feeling that filled him from the tips of his toes to the tips of his fingers. He could even feel the Kyuubi shift disgustedly sometimes.

Yes… maybe he should go Sakura… he knew that she wouldn't mind. At the very least, they could be bored waiting for Kakashi's test… whatever it was… together.

_Together._

He liked the sound of that word.

* * *

Sakura arrived at the trainin grounds around nine thirty. Kakashi had told them to be there by eight, which meant that, at earliest, he wouldn't arrive until ten.

"Sakura-chan!" cried Naruto in response. "Why are you so late? It's 9:30 already!"

Sasuke stared deprecatingly at her.

"Well, you saw him yesterday," reasoned Sakura reservedly. "Chances are, if he was that late for something as important as team introductions, he'll be late for this too."

Naruto grumbled, disgruntled. "But still… you should be suffering with us!"

Shrugging, Sakura pulled out an energy bar and bit on it. The genjutsu was realistic enough that she felt hunger, another sign of how strong it was. But it was benevolent enough that it let her feel nourishment as well... what kind of a strange genjutsu was this?

This time, Sasuke spoke up.

"He told us not to eat."

Sakura stiffened. The whole time she'd been stuck in the genjutsu, she'd managed not to speak or interact with Sasuke in any way. She wasn't ready to be anywhere _near_ him, nor with so many people who were long dead and gone, people like Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei and Hinata and Ino and... Trying to be as nonchalant as possible, she told him without looking at him, "Well, think about it. He told us not to eat because it'd be so hard we'd throw up, right? But if it _is_ so hard, we're better off eating despite that and getting all the nutrition we need." To punctuate her remark, she took another bite of the energy bar.

"Wow, good idea!" agreed Naruto enthusiastically. "Do you have another bar?"

"Yeah," said Sakura, but she didn't smile. She pulled two more bars out of her pockets. "I brought one for each of you, in case both of you didn't have any breakfast."

Sasuke did not like being told what to do. He did not like being told that he was being foolish, least of all from this annoying little pink-haired fangirl. And yet… what she had said made sense, and if it helped him in his quest to obtain enough power to defeat his brother, he would put up with it. For now. At least she hadn't attempted to make a bento covered in obnoxious pink hearts like that Ino girl had.

Wordlessly, he held out a hand.

Sakura ignored it. "Here, give one to"—Kami-sama, she couldn't even say his _name_ without flinching—"to Sasuke. Kun," she tagged on hastily, though someone who had done what he had done didn't deserve that courtesy.

"Sure!" agreed Naruto. "Thanks Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke was vaguely puzzled by this, but he ignored her and concentrated on finishing the energy bar.

When Kakashi arrived nearly an hour later, he noticed disappointedly that none of them were complaining about their hunger. Humph.

"Good morning, guys!" he called out cheerily, relishing the looks of annoyance and anger on his students' faces. He looked around the training grounds and, finding a convenient tree stump, put a clock down on it and held up two bells nonchalantly. "Your task is to retrieve these two bells from me before noon. The one person who cannot get a bell from me gets no lunch and will fail the test."

"Kakashi-sensei!" whined Naruto. "Is that why you told us not to eat breakfast?"

Kakashi's answer was a self-explanatory evil grin. He then continued, "This test will be very difficult. You can even use your weapons against me. None of you will succeed unless you come at me with the intent to kill." He paused for a dramatic effect and saw Naruto and Sasuke tense up, but Sakura stared at him blankly. Curious.

"Ha!" scoffed Naruto, hiding his tenseness. "You're so slow you couldn't even dodge a blackboard eraser—"

Sakura smiled bittersweetly. How long had it been since Naruto could afford such innocent recklessness? How long had it been since Naruto was so blissfully ignorant of the real world? Had the three of them ever been so innocent?

Naruto attacked, and Sakura and Sasuke watched as he was crushed.

* * *

"Sakura, behind you," murmured Kakashi (1).

Sakura remembered being surprised the first time around, but with her enhanced skills she had sensed Kakashi's presence this time long before he had spoken. Sasuke had just thrown a barrage of kunai and shuriken at him, which Kakashi had dodged, and Naruto had just been trapped upside down, meaning that she was the only one left he hadn't played with and so he had focused in on her.

Sakura watched numbly as the leaves of the genjutsu surrounded her, and with unseeing eyes she let her legs take her down the path she recognized from her first memory as a ninja. And when she saw fake-Sasuke there, bloody, beaten, on his knees, his left arm severed, impaled with weapons, begging for her help, she screamed and screamed and _screamed_ because gods help her, she realized that she _wanted _that to be the real Sasuke, she _wanted _him to be like this, she _wanted_ to take her kunai and slit his throat and tell him _See how it feels, Sasuke-kun?_ and at the same time she didn't want to because that would end his misery and he deserved to die slowly, in agony for what he had done, and also she knew from her training that it was impossible to have a genjutsu inside of a genjutsu because that was just how genjustus worked, which meant that oh dear gods this was all _real_, she _was_ eight years back in time and these people _were_ Sasuke and Naruto and Kakashi-sensei and this wasn't all the product of her deranged mind...

"I think that was a bit too much," muttered Kakashi from above, cancelling his genjutsu as he watched Sakura faint.

* * *

I hope you guys enjoyed this update! Obviously, I took a different route this time. I feel like in all the other fics, the characters accept time travel too easily. I mean, if you found yourself reliving the 1980s, would you think you were time traveling or that you were insane? Insanity is the much more likely explanation, after all. And in the Naruto world, a genjutsu is a much more likely explanation to Sakura than actually traveling back in time.

(1) Heavily summarized version of the bell test. Remember (because it was a long time ago, I know xD), Naruto attacks Kakashi before he yells start; Kakashi gives him the infamous butt-poke; Naruto comes back with his Kage Bunshin; Kakashi pwns him again; Naruto sees a bell on the ground and thinks Kakashi dropped it, but instead he gets trapped by being hung upside down on a rope from a tree; then Sasuke throws a whole bunch of weapons at Kakashi; Kakashi uses the replacement jutsu thing to dodge; then he traps Sakura in a genjutsu with Sasuke's dead body; Sakura, freaking out, faints. The same stuff happens in this story too, but I added my own twist. ;D Sakura didn't pwn everyone else like she did in the old story, because let's face it that's pretty shoddy hiding skills for a jounin-level elite ninja if a supposed mediocre Academy graduate like Sakura goes around pwning everyone, _and_ she had to have a moment of revelation when she realized this wasn't all a trick, and the way the bell test happened it just worked out perfectly.

_And remember... review... and the chocolate fairy will visit you tonight..._


	3. The Bell Test

Hope you like it!

* * *

_Chapter Three_

When Sakura came to, she found she'd fainted. Again. This whole fainting thing was getting very old very quickly.

She stared up at the clouds for a minute, vaguely reminded of Shikamaru. He had died in the invasion, against Karin... but no. No. He was alive here, wasn't he? _Alive_. Sakura savored the word.

Alright. So if she _was_ eight years back in the past, safety dictated that she ought to live through her time as exactly as she had done the first time to prevent a paradox. But she couldn't be that ridiculous fangirl anymore. She couldn't let Sasuke leave. She couldn't let Konoha fall. She couldn't let any of her friends die, as selfish as that may be. So she would take the opportunity to grow, to do things _right_. She felt herself filling with determination.

What was supposed to happen next? The bell test memory, though treasured to Sakura, had become dull with the passage of the years... oh! She would come across Sasuke near the middle of the training grounds, where he had been nearly buried. And she would help him up. But was she ready to face him after what he'd done without breaking down?

Inner Sakura was screaming, _No, get away and stay away from that bastard!!_ but, with some effort, Sakura silenced her. Logically, the first step to keep Sasuke from leaving Konoha and eventually destroying it was to show him that his teammates were just as strong as him and could help him, and she'd hardly accomplish that if she left him there in the ground.

She made a right to where she remembered Sasuke had been last time, and to her satisfaction she found his head poking out of the ground as before, an expression of stormy fury etched on his face. She carefully spread her chakra to see if she could sense any nearby presences—very, very carefully, because that was a high-chunin level skill that required meticulous chakra control that no genin fresh out of the Academy should have, no matter how promising they might be, and if Kakashi picked up on her using it, there would be several difficult questions she would have to answer. The what-hidden-village-are-you-spying-on-us-for kind.

Satisfied that Kakashi was plenty busy toying with Naruto, Sakura turned back to the sullen Sasuke and told him stiffly, "Here, let me help you."

He stared up impassively at her, somehow managing to look dismissive even though _he_ was the one in the ground. "I don't need your—"

"Don't be ridiculous," cut in Sakura sharply, in no mood to be friendly with her would-be-killer, even though he hadn't killed her yet, even though he wasn't the monster she knew yet. She got out a kunai and started widening the hole enough for Sasuke to climb out of it. "Come on," she told him unthinkingly as she worked. "We need to find Naruto."

"Why?"

She paused. Should she tell him...? Well, she didn't see why not. It might even serve to make the bell test less embarrassing this time around. And as much as Sasuke disdained her, he was logical enough to weigh her statements and judge their worthiness even _if_ they came from an annoying fangirl. "I've been thinking. This test... why would he only have two bells? Why would he deliberately set us against each other? Why would he pass only _two_ genin? I've never heard of a genin team that has less than three members. He's setting us against each other to see if we can still manage to work as a team. Because that's the most important thing in the ninja world, right? The fact that you can depend on your comrades no matter what. That's why we punish double agents and traitors so harshly..." By that time, the hole she'd dug was wide enough that he could hoist himself up.

As he climbed up, Sasuke looked at her contemplatively. She stared in absolute silence back at him. After a moment, he said, "Fine, let's go find Naruto."

Kakashi, hidden behind the trees, observed their interaction. He'd already tied Naruto to the post. That had been pathetically easy, and now he had to watch his two other students to get any amusement. Naruto's complaints got very boring very quickly, after all. He'd even prepared himself for the sure-to-be hysterical sight of Sakura stumbling across Sasuke. After the genjutsu, she was certain to be shaken. Maybe enough to give Sasuke a hug? He could only imagine the boy's reaction. Ah, if only they were a bit older... Was Sasuke still in the cooties stage? It seemed Sakura had gotten over them, but with the way Sasuke shied away from any physical contact whatsoever, Kakashi wondered about him sometimes...

But Sakura had surprised him. When she'd come across Sasuke, she'd been composed. Calm, even. Like she was used to saving her teammates. And somehow she'd managed to figure out the objective behind his bell test. It wasn't as though he tried to hide it, only that most of Konoha's genin were woefully naive and ignorant. Most low-chunnin level ninja, experienced with battle and fighting tactics by the time they reached that rank, could figure it out sooner or later. But Sakura _had_ figured it out, which he hadn't expected. Perhaps Sasuke, if he ever managed to get over that arrogance, but not her. And Sakura had even convinced Sasuke to follow along with her. From what he'd read of their files, _that_ was an accomplishment in and of itself. His one visible eye crinkled as he smiled, and he decided to wait a bit longer to see what they would come up with.

As she and Sasuke walked off, Sakura glanced behind herself for a moment before looking forward. _I hope you enjoyed that, Kakashi-sensei..._ she thought, and smiled to herself.

* * *

They found Naruto tied to a post, pouting.

Sakura sighed and got out her kunai, and Sasuke rolled his eyes. "How'd you get like _that_, dobe?" he taunted.

"All I wanted to do was have some lunch!! I was _soooo_ hungry. Your energy bar wasn't filling at all, Sakura-chan!!"

"Naruto, you're just a pig," Sakura teased, relaxing. There was something about Naruto's persistent optimism and stubborn obliviousness that always comforted her. She took her kunai and sliced through the ropes holding Naruto hostage, and stepped back as he slid down to the ground, landing with a thump. Sakura winced at his distinct lack of grace. He'd have to fix that later.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at Sakura's sudden relaxed posture. It didn't make any sense. Back at the Academy, she couldn't care less about him. And now she was treating him like... a friend...?

"Hey..." began Naruto slowly. "Why are you letting me free anyways?"

Sakura began, "Well, I was telling Sasuke... kun, that..." She trailed off and looked at him expectantly.

"She was telling me that the objective of this test is teamwork. Kakashi-sensei is deliberately trying to set us against each other, so we don't work as a team. Individually, we wouldn't stand a chance against a jounin," Sasuke admitted. "But, together, maybe..."

Naruto stared admiringly at Sakura. "Wow, Sakura-chan!! That's so smart!!!"

Sakura blushed at the praise. She should be used to it by now, she supposed, since Naruto complimented her on her intellect almost daily. But after a childhood of being teased, then looked down upon because of her teammates, it always pleased her to be set apart from the others. Pathetic, really, but that was the way she was.

"So... do you guys have any ideas for getting Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto.

"Well, actually..." began Sakura.

* * *

Kakashi sat on the tree-stump, reading the end of Chapter Eight of Icha Icha Paradise. _Hiku, you sly dog you, getting a threesome with the two sisters,_ he thought enviously.

He looked up momentarily, noticing Naruto's presence in the bushes. _Another attack?_ he thought, slightly disappointedly. He'd hoped this new team would have come up with a strategy. But, well, everyone knew what a short attention span Naruto had. He'd probably gotten bored and decided to go off on his own. Shame. He'd almost considered passing the team for a moment there.

He wasn't disappointed when he was suddenly assaulted by a barrage of shadow clones. About twenty-two, he estimated. Now that took an impressive amount of chakra. Maybe next year, if he matured, Naruto would find a teacher that would hone his skills. As it was, he was unready for the responsibility required from genin. Not letting go of the book, Kakashi got out a single kunai and began weaving through the crowd, easily dispersing several with each pass. That was the problem with shadow clones. They were only as good as the caster, and Naruto apparently had appalling taijutsu. As such, it was pathetically easy for him to find the clones' unprotected spots. At this rate, he was bound to come across the actual Naruto soon.

And then Sasuke joined in on the fray.

Kakashi's one visible eye crinkled again. That was intriguing. Sasuke had taken advantage of his own distraction with Naruto's clones to attack him from the back. What a cute little tactic. It might have worked in the field against green genin, maybe a shockingly careless chunin. But someone like him, an experienced jounin, was too advanced to succumb to a little trick like that. Swiveling on his heel, he rammed his elbow into one of Naruto's shadow clones, dispersing it, and at the same time lashed out a kick towards Sasuke, using the momentum of his spin to strengthen his kick. It was an advanced maneuver for a genin, but Sasuke himself was advanced as well and should be able to dodge it. He did, and Kakashi followed through with a punch, but a clone got in the way, giving Sasuke enough time to jump up and attack him from above. Kakashi briefly contemplated a replacement jutsu, but decided that would really ruin the fun of toying with these adorable little Academy graduates and instead dodged, ramming his shoulder into another shadow clone. Those shadow clones were really starting to get annoying.

Sasuke suddenly sent a cloud of kunai raining down on Kakashi. He avoided them easily enough, but noticed interestedly that several of them actually went quite close to cutting off his bells... and exactly how many kunai did Sasuke have hidden on his body? The boy just never seemed to run out...

To a taijutsu specialist, the interplay between the clones and Sasuke was ugly to watch. Their moves did not compliment each other. Each worked as an individual, instead of a seamless part of a team. They often got in each other's way, hitting each other on accident during the chaos of the fighting, or having to dodge their other teammates to avoid a punch in the jaw. It was rather like watching a hurricane, with its chaotic winds, destroying every fine thing about taijutsu. But hurricanes were destructive forces of nature, and compelling in their own way. Naruto and his clones and Sasuke were at least managing to get the job done, or at least trying. And the most important thing was that they were _attempting_ to work together, as a team. They really had something going on there, something potentially magnificent. However, when Kakashi spread out his chakra experimentally, he didn't sense Sakura's presence anywhere nearby. It was a shame they didn't include Sakura, or else he might have passed them then and there. But Sakura's fate was the fate of the average, he knew. To be overlooked, to be ignored, to be made inadequate simply because they were adequate but nothing more. And Sakura herself was simply as average as could be: an A grade at classwork, abysmal at the actual physical requirements, resulting in an absolutely average C average at the Academy. Not horrible, but not _good_ either.

Deciding to finish the fight, because it really had dragged on far too long, Kakashi brought his hands together in preparation for a simple ninjutsu—when suddenly a kunai came whistling towards him. He assumed it was aimed for the bells attached to his belt, but it was slightly off target. He dodged it, but in the confusion of the fighting had to turn and slam his palm into the nose of an overzealous clone—and then Naruto (his clones had dispersed in his shock), Sasuke, and Kakashi watched in horror as the kunai tore through the center of Kakashi's beloved book, tearing it in half.

And a dead silence fell on the training field as the pages of Icha Icha Paradise drifted downwards and fluttered on the ground like the wings of a dying dove.

* * *

Sakura didn't climb into the trees until after Sasuke entered the fight. It was imperative to their plan that she, of all people, remained undetected, and so she had been absolutely cautious, masking her chakra signature and waiting until she was sure Kakashi had been distracted with both of the boys.

Both Naruto and Sasuke had given her most of their kunai. As they fought below, Sakura, high up in the trees, quickly set several projectile traps that could be activated with a single tug of chakra strings. They were, of course, an advanced technique that someone like her shouldn't have any experience with, but they _were _nearly undetectable. She kept the rest with her, and, making sure she was solidly supported on a strong tree branch, occasionally joined in on the fight with the kunai Naruto and Sasuke had given her, along with her own.

It was frustrating. She had a far shorter reach than she was used to, meaning she had to mentally recalculate her aim and strength. The positions she'd drilled into herself until they were instinctive just _didn't work._ She constantly had to make minute adjustments, and her accuracy wasn't nearly up to par. Compounding on that, she had to constantly throw the kunai from odd angles to make it seem as though it was _Sasuke_ who was throwing them at Kakashi, so the older jounin wouldn't expect a third presence from up in the trees. And as lovable as Naruto was, his clones were so damn _annoying_. They kept on getting in her line of vision and in her way, so she never had a clear shot to the bells. That _was_ her objective, after all: to use kunai to detach the bells while Kakashi was distracted with the fighting. Then, Sasuke, who should have remained at a close range the entire time, would snatch up the bells and pass them around to Naruto. And since technically all _three_ of them would have gotten the bells, Sakura by actually taking them from Kakashi and Sasuke and Naruto from holding them, all three would have passed.

Sakura perked up as she noticed a sudden opening. Finally! The jounin inside of her was ready to bury Naruto alive for his incompetence. Gods, he really _had_ improved throughout all those years, hadn't he? She hadn't noticed, since she'd always been so used to Naruto being light-years ahead of where she was in training. He'd always been far better than her, untouchable... Sakura smiled. Well, an ego boost was always good. Without hesitating, she sharply threw the kunai... and cursed as she realized it was slightly off-aim. Kakashi would be able to dodge, so she wasn't worried about him getting hurt, but... who knew when the next time she'd get another opening would be?

She cursed again as Icha Icha Paradise was torn in half.

* * *

"Sa... ku... ra...." growled Kakashi wrathfully. "Get... down... here."

He'd pieced it together in his head. The kunai came from above, meaning neither Naruto nor his clones nor Sasuke could have thrown it. Which meant Sakura had to. Which meant Sakura was in the trees. Which meant she had been cloaking her chakra signature, an exceedingly advanced skill especially for a fresh Academy graduate. He'd have been more intrigued by that _except for the fact she'd ruined his beloved book!_

"Ahaha... ha," laughed Sakura nervously, as Naruto and Sasuke sweatdropped. "I think you'll understand if I stay up here for my safety, sensei."

Kakashi took a deep, calming breath and looked at the situation with an objective eye. The three graduates had begun the test abysmally; Naruto, shortsightedly impulsive, Sasuke, arrogantly careless, and Sakura, simply weak. But they'd regrouped and come together remarkably, designing a strategy that utilized their individual strengths—Naruto's and Sasuke's brute power along with Sakura's impeccable control. They'd managed to distract him and almost get his bells. They might have if Sakura's aim had been a bit more accurate. They'd done more together than any other team he'd tested in the past...

"You guys pass the test. Come back here tomorrow at the same time," he grumbled, and then disappeared in a poof of smoke. What he wouldn't give to see the looks on their faces...

...And anyways, as his team, he could force them to take as many D-rank missions as he pleased. Revenge was sweet. Maybe Lady Shiniji had lost her cat, Torah-chan, again...

* * *

Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto stared dumbly at where Kakashi had been. For a moment there, at the look of absolute wrath on Kakashi's face, Sakura had worried for the first time that they might no pass the test after all. But they _had_, and now she was well on her way to making everything better again...

"So... let's go to Ichiraku's, then?" she offered tentatively, and smiled as both accepted.

* * *

So that's Chapter Three. Shorter than usual, I know, but one reviewer told me she (he?) would prefer quick updates and medium-ish chapters over slow updates and long chapters... so I'm hoping that's true for the rest of you guys too? Anyways, sorry for the delay!! I had like two thousand words written for this chapter, and then I read through it and realized that it was going in completely the opposite direction that I wanted it to. So I had to delete it all and start over. Meh. XD

Remember to review!

_If you review within the next two minutes, your life's wish will come true and you will have good luck for the next seven years. If you review within the next five minutes, you will meet your true love tomorrow and have good luck for the next three years. If you review within the next fifteen minutes, you will have one wish come true this week and have good luck for the next year. If you review within the next hour, you will have good luck for the rest of the week. If you read this and don't review, you will wake up at midnight tomorrow and to find Orochimaru__ above you, putting silver eyeshadow and pink lipstick on you. If that's not scarring, I don't know what is. OMG send dis 2 fift33n ppl within da next fift33n minutes or u will die on 2012 OMG!!!_

(p.s., I just noticed the last two chapters both ended with Sakura fainting. LOL. Well, hopefully this chapter switched things up a bit. xD)_  
_


	4. AN

_[To be replaced soon]_


	5. Deus Ex Machina

YOU MAY BE SLIGHTLY CONFUSED BY THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER. I KNOW I WAS, AND I WAS THE ONE WHO _WROTE_ IT. THUS, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING AUTHOR'S NOTE, AS I FEEL IT CLEARS UP THE MAIN QUESTIONS PEOPLE WILL HAVE ABOUT THIS CHAPTER. I WILL LAUGH AT THE IGNORANCE OF PEOPLE WHO REVIEW SAYING, "LOL YOU PUT UP THE SAME CHAPTER TWICE LOSER." They will be vilified and then used as human sacrifices.

Some people seemed to be confused by the flashback-thing that I'd posted up previously as a separate chapter, so here's my explanation for it: I'd meant it as a part of Chapter Four, but after the whole broken arm incident I decided to just post what I had up already because I hadn't updated in a long time and figured you reviewers needed SOMETHING. ;D But then that confused people... so I've merged Chapter Four and Chapter Five into one big old Chapter Four. That's why the _previous _Chapter Four is just a placeholder-author's-note-thing now. I hate those. And for those of you that are concerned that I skimped on you, the rest of the chapter WITHOUT the scene at the beginning is still a respectable seven pages long. I know it's not as much as what some people manage to write per chapter, and I know it's been a while too, but I've had to struggle with a broken arm and writers block and finals and moving and SAT prep classes and... yeah. So cut me some slack, please. xD

Also, I thought I'd made this fairly clear, but in case I didn't, this flashback is of Sakura with her team THE FIRST TIME AROUND. It's not a scene found in canon, but I figure the team must have experienced something like it at least once in their time together, considering how close they were. So I wrote it as best as I could, since I wanted to contrast their closeness before with their distance now.

After the flashback the chapter shifts to "present day." Again, I tried to make the shift clear, but just to be safe, I added little "context" tags at the top of each shift to be extra-obvious. Usually I hate them and think they only belong in spy movies, _and_ I feel like there are better ways to set up the scene. But it really wasn't working out any other way, so there ya go. Context tags w00t.

ALSO. One of my reviewers threatened to kill a kitten for each day I didn't update. Wow, way to use negative reinforcement! Anyways, I'm sorry for the kittens I was unable to save. Let us all have a moment of silence for the kittens forced to give up their lives in the line of duty. I hope this chapter was worthy enough to buy the remaining kittens a reprieve from the unfortunate fate that befell their brethren. -sad face-

also i didn't proofread and it's been a while so please forgive continuity errors/typos!

* * *

_Chapter Four_

* * *

_Eight Years Ago_

Sakura had a beautiful, perfect memory of them once, the first time around.

It was a hot night. Warm nights weren't uncommon in Konoha, especially not during the summer months, but nights like these, humid oppressing nights when it was impossible to sleep were uncommon. She was still twelve then, and Sasuke still lived in the village. Naruto still shone bright like a comet whenever Sakura closed her eyes. And they were all (mostly) still idiotically optimistic, innocently believing that the blood and gore and ugliness of death, killing, destruction would never touch them, would quietly pass them by, even if they were ninja. _Especially_ because they were ninja, because then that meant they could use their amazing abilities to fight off all the evil in the world, didn't it? But that was back when they thought that only the good people in the world were leaders, only the good people in the world had power over ninja. Only the good people in the world could make others do their bidding.

So Sakura lay in her bed, tossing and turning. She'd kicked off the covers long ago, because the very thought of warmth made her feel sick on a night like this, on a night when there was clearly too much warmth to go around. Honestly. A breeze blew in through the wide-open window, but it was a pale imitation of cold. Cold. She'd almost forgotten what the word meant. What the sensation it described felt like.

And she stared up at the ceiling as the minutes ticked by. Hours? No, they had to be minutes, but they might as well have been hours. And right when she was on the cusp of almost-sleepyness, right when she felt she might be able to ignore the heat for a few hours at least, she heard voices outside her window.

"Neh, do you think Sakura-chan is still awake?"

"Well, find _out_, dobe."

"Bastard!"

"Idiot."

"…How do I find out?"

"Get a pebble. Throw it at her window."

"Like this one?"

"Not one _that_ huge, idiot. That'd shatter her whole window. And probably wake up the neighbors, too."

Sakura sat up ramrod-straight. _Shatter my _window_!_ Whatever that Naruto-idiot was planning, she'd better get out there and stop him in his tracks.

Pouting, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and hoisted herself up, grimacing as the light pink flannel of her tank top clung to her sweaty skin. Sweat was disgusting. Why did girls sweat, anyways? For guys, it was okay. They actually looked kind of cute when they sweat, all panting hard and exhausted. But for girls, sweat was Not Beautiful. And Sakura didn't even _glisten_ like all those proud Amazon warrior-women in the fiction stories. She sweat and she stank. Life was _so _unfair sometimes. And really, the heat _was_ ridiculous.

Her hands grappled with the window of her room. It was always just a little stuck at first, and it opened with a loud creak that could be heard for miles around. There was a specific way to open it without the squeak waking up her parents, and it took Sakura a few minutes to get the proper leverage to do so.

She saw Sasuke and Naruto waiting in her backyard. Naruto was in the middle of hoisting a rock that looked far too large to even be considered a pebble, and Sakura had a brief motherly moment when she thought to herself _now what does that boy plan to do with _that_ mountain of a rock?_ She frowned as she realized that thought sounded almost… affectionate. Well, that wouldn't do.

"What are you _doing_, you idiot?" she hissed down instead. "I need my beauty sleep!"

"As if you were getting _any_ kind of sleep in the first place, Sakura-chan!" retorted Naruto.

Sakura paused contemplatively. The blonde _did_ have a point there.

"Get down here," muttered Sasuke.

Sakura paused. Well, it seemed Sasuke wanted to go along with Naruto's inane plan as well… whatever it was. That meant Naruto couldn't have thought up of something _too_ stupid, right?

"Weeelll…" wavered Sakura. "Why, though?" she insisted. She couldn't agree to any plan without knowing what it entailed. "Why are you guys out so late at night?"

"It's too hot to sleep!" complained Naruto.

And that thought made Sakura pause again. Because it _was_ too hot. It was so right, what Naruto said. She wanted to do nothing at all… not even sleep…

And soon afterwards, she somehow found herself down there with them, lying there on the surprisingly cool grass as the flies buzzed somewhere in the distance, all three of them staring up at the impossibly perfect night sky. It was the most beautiful, untouched, frightening thing she had ever seen her life. And she felt utterly complete like that, with her two team members on either side of her.

They didn't talk for a whole hour, just stared and stared at the sky speckled with celestial dust, even Naruto. All three of them sensed something that night, something deeper, something beyond them, some sense that perhaps they would never be like this again. They lay there. Breathed. And Sakura realized all of a sudden that even though they were only twelve, even though she had only known the two of them for a year, she couldn't imagine life without them. Like she couldn't imagine life without an arm, without a foot, without her mother, without that annoying little newspaper boy who biked across her street everyday and woke her at five in the goddamn morning with the incessant ringing of his bell.

The air blew across her face, and Sakura realized with a start that it felt cool. Perfect, just like the night. And abruptly she was hit with the inexplicable urge to cry. Because something so perfect couldn't last, just like a perfect blooming rose couldn't last, which was a sign for her, a sign for them, a sign for the future.

"Hey…" she whispered, breaking the silence, the beautiful silence, because she was afraid that if she didn't, she would start sobbing.

"We… we're a… team, right?" she asked them tentatively. She wasn't even sure what that question meant. She didn't know what she was asking or what answer she was looking for, only that suddenly there was some horrible feeling inside her chest building up. And she felt like it would explode and take her with it, take her and her wonderful boys, and the only way to stop it was to… to find something. Some answer. But she didn't know what question it was the answer _to_, so she asked them the first thing on her mind.

Naruto snorted. "Well, _duh_."

And when Sakura glanced over at Sasuke, she noticed him doing the eye-rolling thing he always did whenever someone asked him a painfully obvious question, the eye-roll that said _Well of course you idiot, what else?_

"I just—I hope we stay a team forev—for a very long time," she told them. She was going to say _forever_, but she remembered all of a sudden with the horrified clarity of a child that nothing in the world of the ninja was forever. And the word forever might scare them off, too. And then her mind took a more morbid turn…

She remembered reading somewhere that the average mortality rate for a ninja was thirty-five years of age. She did the math in her head. They were twelve—nearly a third of their life was gone already. Kami, _nearly a third…_

As a single heavy tear rolled silently down her cheek, Sakura realized that she had never felt quite as old as she now did.

"That's silly, Sakura-chan," Naruto told her.

"Wh-what?"

"We're a team _forever_."

"But—nothing in the ninja world—"

"Yeah, yeah, they all say that nothing in the ninja world is forever. But _everything_ is forever, don't you see? This moment's going to pass and we'll have other moments, but it's still going to exist forever. A moment doesn't just _disappear_. And if you wonder where it goes, well, I know. It stays behind, in our memories and minds. And even when we have white hair and the gross old-people smell, we're going to remember this and remember that we were a team, and so will our friends and parents and future children, so really we'll be a team forever, Sakura-chan."

"Don't think _too_ much, dobe. You might hurt yourself."

"Sasuke-teme!"

"And Naruto's forgetting something," added Sakura snottily. "A beauty like me will _never_ get the old-people smell." And Sakura smiled at them, at her own silliness, because if Naruto was right then that meant she was safe. Safe with the knowledge that together the three of them would last forever. Safe with the knowledge that they were eternal. Safe with the knowledge that they were always going to be a team. Because what did it matter when she or Naruto or Sasuke might die if they lasted forever?

_Safe_.

She'd never lose them.

Let it be this way forever, she remembered thinking.

Sakura had a beautiful, perfect memory of them once. And she hated it because it was a lie. Because they'd never be like that ever again.

* * *

_Present Day_

She had been foolish. She'd hoped that with a single trip to Ichiraku's ramen stand, Team Seven could go back to the way it had been. But they were not the same. They weren't a team. They hadn't been through any of the same experiences together. Naruto, while still hyperactive as ever, had none of the foresight and maturity the _other_ Naruto had gained through years of experience. Sasuke was still the same arrogant prick, _and_ he had yet to lower his guard to his team. And Sakura… well, she was different too.

Their meeting had eventually degenerated into Naruto and Sasuke insulting each other, while Sakura sat silently in the middle. She wanted to say something to them, some magic speech that would make them somehow _remember_ the past she'd had (would have?) with them. But if anything, that was Naruto's arena of experience, completely overturning one's worldview with a few impassioned inspirational words, and it was all Sakura could do to sit there, silently, attempting not to scream at them in frustration.

So she had awkwardly excused herself from their meeting after spending only an hour with them, because every time Naruto smiled or Sasuke scoffed she would remember that these people were imposters, not really _her_ boys, and she couldn't stand that. And now it was night and she was lying in her bed and staring at her ceiling and she wanted to _sleep_ but how could she when everyone she had known were dead to her in her own way…

These people were strangers to her. Every time Naruto glared at Sasuke or smiled at Sakura, his blue eyes unshadowed and clear from years of hardship and betrayal he had not yet experienced; every time Sasuke turned his obsidian gaze to her, his eyes dark but not yet quite the cesspool of amorality she had come to expect from him; every time, Sakura realized that these people, these strangers _were not her boys_. They looked like Sasuke and Naruto, and in fact had some of their very same habits, but there were jarring differences that cruelly reminded her that no, this was not the Sasuke and Naruto that she knew.

It was during that meeting that she realized she had _outgrown_ them. It was an alien experience for her, so accustomed was she to watching their backs. But it was true. She had _years_ on them. She had experience and knowledge and skill that made what they knew seem like child's play. It _was_ child's play. Was this superiority what Sasuke had felt all those years when he hung out with them? It was an intoxicating feeling, Sakura realized, yet it was entirely isolating. She couldn't _relate_ to these people. Was this what geniuses felt like? She supposed that if it was, she couldn't envy them.

She was glad she had gotten this… second chance, if that was what it could be called, but sometimes she felt so very lonely. And… what about the people she had left behind? The Naruto she actually cared about? Hinata, Ino, Tenten? Tsunade-sama, Kakashi-sensei? What was happening to them while she was gone? Had her other world ceased to exist when she had woken up in this one? That thought was far too terrifying to consider, so Sakura cast it out of her mind.

Did the _real_ Naruto (yes, she supposed both Narutos she knew were real, but it was clear in her mind which Naruto was _more_ real) think she was dead? _Was_ she dead—well, no, of course not! She knew that this... state that she found herself in could not be caused by a genjutsu, now. But it could still be a product of her… perhaps… _confused_ mind, as disconcerting as the idea was to consider. It was likely that after the injuries Sasuke had given her, she was in some sort of coma. Coma patients were known to suffer vivid hallucinations, weren't they? Straining her near-photographic memory, Sakura struggled to recall the one vague paragraph she had read about comas in one of her textbooks. Unconsciousness, as deceptively simple as it seemed, was not a phenomenon well-understood by ninja.

…_A coma is a profound state of unconsciousness. Comas may result from a variety of conditions, including but not limited to intoxication, metabolic abnormalities, progressive neural diseases, strokes, and hypoxia. During a coma, the brain is on its lowest level of alertness. A comatose patient cannot be "awakened," fails to respond normally to pain or light stimulation, does not undergo sleep-wake cycles, and does not take voluntary actions. Upon waking, comatose patients often require substantial physical and psychological therapy to begin functioning normally, and some do not ever fully regain control of their motor functions or higher thought abilities. Some patients who have awoken from comas describe feeling the sensation of "floating" and experiencing hallucinations similar to those which occur during intoxication. They also report that moments of awareness, during which they could hear and recall everything that was spoken in their vicinity…_

But she hadn't experienced any strange voices in her head or the sensation of being jolted out of a dream, which many coma patients described during her studies. And she was _fairly_ certain that she was still sane. After years of such a high-stress job, many shinobi learned to recognize the signs of battle fatigue, medic-nin especially.

She wasn't crazy, she wasn't stuck in a genjutsu... so she supposed she _had_ actually traveled back in time, as preposterous as that sounded.

But… did that mean that all her friends, everyone she _knew_… did that mean they were all _gone?_

Sakura spent the rest of the night in sleepless contemplation, unable to come up with an easy answer to that question.

* * *

The next month passed in a blur of D-ranked missions, during which Sakura struggled not to reveal her brute strength. Still, the menial missions did wonders for building up her endurance and muscle mass, once she overcame Naruto's initial reluctance to let her do any work. After the Ichiraku incident (which was what she called it in her mind), Team Seven had settled into an uneasy routine of ignoring one another, which was broken occasionally by the sheer ridiculousness of Naruto's antics. She wondered if Kakashi-sensei had started to regret passing them now, seeing as the blossoming teamwork they had shown in the infamous bell test had mostly come to a standstill.

In the meantime, Sakura further worked on redeveloping her skills as a kunoichi by spending extra time at the training grounds, working on the accuracy of her kunai throws, and by running a lap around Konoha each morning to further build up her endurance. She was no Rock Lee, but as she got less and less sore after her daily runs, she began considering upgrading to two laps each morning instead of the usual one. She had once been able to run ten laps around Konoha, a feat that was achieved only through years of hard work, and Sakura looked forward to regaining that distinction.

It was around that time that Sakura began wondering: wasn't this approximately the time that the Hokage had assigned them the mission to Wave country? She wasn't particularly keen on repeating the experience, but at the same time, it _had_ been their first life-or-death experience together as a team, and wasn't that going to be valuable to the development of their teamwork? And when they _did_ get their inevitable mission, wouldn't it be better to stick with the one she knew?

Then she decided not to worry herself too much about it. She _had_ been a jounin-level kunoichi, after all. To her, a C-rank mission would hardly be a step up from a D-rank mission, and she had a feeling that she could even handle an A-rank mission as long as she had Kakashi-sensei by her side.

* * *

The Hokage, in the middle of grumbling about thrice-damned power-hungry council members thinking that they could try to steal his power just because they thought he was getting old and senile—which he _wasn't! _(and weren't all the council members old and senile, _too?_ he thought indignantly to himself), looked up in surprise as Kakashi entered his office. "Kakashi," he asked curiously, "what are you doing here?" It was a strange sight to see the lazy, silver-haired man in the Hokage Tower. What made it even stranger was that _Icha Icha Paradise_ was nowhere to be seen, as well. What was _going on_ here?

"Team Seven needs a C-rank mission," declared Kakashi suddenly. Sarutobi thought wonderingly that his tone could almost be mistaken as serious, but then decided that that was ridiculous.

"Why?" Was that… a frown he noticed behind that navy blue mask? But Kakashi didn't frown. He was far too apathetic about the world to care about something enough to _frown_ about it.

"They're not developing well as a team," explained Kakashi. His upside-down-smile-definitely-_not_-a-frown-because-that-would-just-be-ridiculous-on-Kakashi deepened. _Deepened!_ thought Sarutobi incredulously. "I knew I saw _something_ during the bell test… but it's gone now."

"And you think a C-rank mission would help them develop?"

"Maybe if they were put in a more serious situation, they would work together as a team."

Sarutobi looked contemplatively at the piles of mission scrolls littering his polished oak desk. "We _do_ have more C-rank missions than usual this week… how would you rate the skill of your team, then?"

"Sasuke ranks anywhere from a high-level genin to a low-level chunin. Naruto, besides his mastery of Kage Bunshin, hasn't really shown anything outstanding yet except for his large chakra stores. Sakura, while she displays strategic potential, has a low chakra store and a low endurance level, meaning she can't do anything advanced yet. They could be considered an average genin team," stated Kakashi bluntly.

It sounded like some sort of low-level bodyguard mission would be ideal, decided Sarutobi. Kakashi could even start explaining to them about basic bodyguarding strategies… after all, someone needed to focus on protecting the client, someone else needed to focus on eliminating any potential outside threats, and the third usually had to go between the two, assisting them and also scouting for potential threats. In fact, it seemed like _just_ the type of mission to jumpstart their development as a team, as each member would fall into their natural niches and work together. And he was fairly confident that Team Seven wouldn't fall apart under the pressure; he'd gleaned from reports that, at the very least, Team Seven wasn't openly hostile to each other, which was more than he could say for _some_ teams.

Sarutobi nodded, having made his decision. "I've got some C-rank bodyguarding missions lined up. Let me see…" He began rustling through the many scrolls, nearly growling in frustration as some of them fell off the edge of his desk. He decided to ignore them for now and have some intrepid bodyguard clean them up later. Served them right for refusing to give him a moment of peace. Finding the scrolls he was looking for, he exclaimed, "Ah! We have two available, actually. The first is to escort the daughter of a local noble to one of the border towns of Fire Country. They're not expecting any trouble, but there _have_ been reports of bandits—just civilian ones, not trained bandits—so they want some assurance."

"And the second?"

"Hmm… wait, let me open it up properly… here! The second is to escort a… bridge builder to Wave Country. He's not expecting any trouble at all, so I don't see why he requested a team… Oh, but the trip is long, which is why I marked it as a C-rank instead of a D-rank. Additionally, you might run into some trouble with a few thugs once you _reach_ Wave Country. We've received some intelligence that a minor gang leader is attempting a takeover in that country. But the thugs would likely be nothing a trained genin couldn't handle."

Kakashi mused, "I've heard Wave Country is nice this time of year."

Sarutobi agreed, "So it is. And if you _do_ run into some thugs, your team could test out their training in a practical setting."

"Then… give us the second mission," decided Kakashi.

Humming in acknowledgement, the Hokage made a mark of it in the scroll and said, "Alright, then have your team report to me after they finish their latest D-rank mission, and I'll give you some more information about it. Now, get out of here. I've got paperwork to catch up on," he added grumpily. He was relieved when he noticed that Kakashi's frown seemed to disappear.

Nodding in thanks, the jounin-sensei excused himself, and, bowing, left the Hokage's office. The old man thought cantankerously that he was definitely getting far too old for this job.

* * *

Sakura stood uncomfortably in the Hokage's office. The first time she had seen him, it had been like seeing a ghost—it _was_ seeing a ghost—initially all she could see was the lifeless corpse of a tired old man, his back stained red—and she'd had to swallow convulsively to keep from throwing up her lunch. All these people around her, all these people that would soon be dead, stirred up memories best left alone. But after reporting to him routinely after the completion of all their missions, Sakura had almost begun to get used to seeing the old man again, and was now only mildly uneasy in his presence.

He was reviewing their after-mission report as slowly and thoroughly as always, and Naruto was fidgeting impatiently beside her. Next to her, Sasuke stared impassively at the wall ahead of him. The familiar position still brought back memories that made her eyes sting… _slightly_.

The Hokage, setting the report down on his desk, drew himself up and began, "Now, Team Seven, Kakashi, your next mission is to—"

"No!" interjected Naruto. "No, no, no, no, no!"

Everyone in the room turned to stare curiously at Naruto.

Naruto continued determinedly, "We're ready for a harder mission! I swear, if we have to catch Lady Shiniji's cat _one more time—!"_

Sarutobi and Kakashi exchanged an amused glance. It seemed that the team hadn't yet realized that the Hokage was about to offer them a C-ranked mission _anyways_. "Well, that's perfect, because I—"

"Please, Hokage-sama," came Sasuke's quiet, impassive voice.

Then, everyone in the room turned to stare in shock at Sasuke.

The Hokage gave Sasuke an impenetrable look before smirking softly, deciding to play with these cute little children for a bit longer. Flipping through the scrolls with almost impossible slowness, he said as if with great reluctance, "Well… if you guys _really_ want a C-rank mission _that_ much… I'll see if there are any available. I can't make any guarantees though…" The tension in the room was almost palpable. "Oh!" he declared brightly. "There's a C-rank mission available right here! You're to escort a bridge builder to Wave Country." His and Kakashi's smirk deepened.

Naruto hooted in joy, and even Sasuke looked relieved. Sakura relaxed, but she noted out of the corner of her eye the superiorly amused looks on the Hokage's and Kakashi's faces with a sense of puzzlement, before deciding to ignore it. Who knew what these perverted old men thought, anyways?

Irregular knocking interrupted Sakura's thoughts. It was an unspoken rule that the Hokage was not to be interrupted when debriefing the new genin teams unless there was some emergency, so she wondered what was happening. Sakura looked up in curiosity at the Hokage, who declared amusedly, "That'll probably be your new client right there."

A gray-haired, bearded man with drink-reddened eyes wobbled in uncertainly, clearly drunk, waving his sake bottle around wildly. "What's taking so long to fill my mission?" he grumbled at the Hokage as though not really expecting an answer.

Glad to see the old man who had made such an impression on her in her youth, drunk as he was, Sakura rushed over to him and steadied him, telling him, "Sir, you don't look very steady on your feet!"

Charmed, Tazuna stared down at her with wide eyes before gently patting her on the top of her pink head. "Now that's a real ninja!" he declared to the rest of the room. "Why is she stuck with idiots like you guys? Especially the short one with the stupid face?" He gestured ridiculingly at Naruto.

"I am _not_ stupid!" protested Naruto vehemently after he caught on that Tazuna was insulting him.

Pointedly ignoring the incensed blond, Tazuna decided suddenly, "I want her to fill my mission! A real lady like her, she's going to grow up to be a fine ninja!"

The Hokage shrugged. "We've already assigned her team to your mission, so you don't need to worry. Her team will be coming along with her, however, as she's a genin. Genin are beginning ninja, and they must always complete their missions in groups of three."

Naruto fixed Tazuna with a vicious glare. "I don't like this old fat dude one bit!" he whined pitifully, pouting at Sakura. She shrugged at him as though saying, _Well what do you want me to do about it?_

"You watch your mouth, boy!" retorted Tazuna. "And… fine… I agree to put up with those two, as long as they agree to stay on task during the mission!"

Kakashi, looking sheepish, rubbed his hair and told Tazuna, "I'll have to come along too. I'm their instructor, so I'll be watching them the whole time."

The bridge builder waved his hand dismissively. "Fine, fine! You're an experienced ninja, right?" At Kakashi's nod, he practically sighed in relief, then tried his best to hide it. "All the better! Can't have too much protection against bandits these days!" he laughed nervously.

"Who would want to steal something from _him_, anyways," mumbled Naruto sullenly, sidling closer to Sakura. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Tazuna apparently had better hearing than Naruto thought, because he turned around and, highly affronted, exclaimed, "Hey, you little brat! I'll have you know that I am a _very_ famous bridge builder, renowned throughout my country!"

"How can a _bridge builder_ be famous? Who's ever heard of a famous _bridge builder?"_ retorted Naruto disbelievingly.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the antics of both, feeling deeply relieved. She had to hide her smile as the Hokage sharply ordered Naruto and Tazuna to stop their bickering, and told the rest of the team to start their packing.

She wanted to smile because everything was _almost_ back to normal, for the first time in a long time.

And she wondered: was it fate, then, that her team had gotten the very same mission the second time around as well?


End file.
